The Australian Sex Party this morning lodged formal complaints against Google with the US Department of Justice and the Australian competition watchdog, accusing the search giant of corrupt practices and unlawfully interfering with the conduct of a recent Victorian byelection.

The Sex Party says Google refused to run its advertisements in the lead-up to the July 12 byelection for the state seat of Melbourne.

Its ads were also refused during the last federal election.

Emails seen by Fairfax show Facebook also rejected Sex Party ads during the recent City of Sydney Council elections. Facebook accused the party of promoting “adult products or services”.

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In a letter to the fraud section of the US Department of Justice seen by Fairfax, Australian Sex Party president Fiona Patten accuses Google of “unlawful interference in the conduct of a state election in Victoria” and having "corrupt intent".

She says Google treated the Sex Party differently to other political parties and refused to budge when it was pointed out that Google had incorrectly applied its own policies.

“By engaging in wrongful conduct against the Sex Party, Google has provided an advantage to the Labor Party and the Greens,” Ms Patten says in the letter.

“With the Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate and the federal government relying on the Greens support, and the federal government considering legislation and policies that will affect the business operations of Google, it must be to the benefit of Google to have treated the Greens favourably.

“Further, Google has given to the Greens something that it has said is contrary to its policy.”

Ms Patten finished third in the Melbourne byelection behind the successful candidate, Labor's Jennifer Kanis, and the Greens' Cathy Oke. She received 1832 votes.

Google rejected the Sex Party's ads for AdWords (Google's main advertising product), or sponsored search results, saying they breached its rules which prevent solicitation of donations by a website that did not display tax exempt status.

In the letter Ms Patten argues that the Greens, Labor and Family First all had donations buttons on their sites and none had tax deductibility information. She says Google continued to ban the ads after the Sex Party amended its website to state that donations under $1500 to political parties were tax-deductible.

Ms Patten said her team attempted to rectify the situation numerous times over the phone and by email in the lead-up to the byelection but the requests were ignored or denied.

In a separate letter to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission general manager Paul Zawa, Ms Patten accuses Google of “misleading and deceptive conduct”.

She says Google's actions could have led to an "unfair result" if the Greens had won the seat, given that the Sex Party had directed preferences to Labor.

In a response sent to the Sex Party last night, Google said it took the allegations very seriously and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act were prohibited under Google's "code of conduct".

"Therefore an investigation into the allegations and the circumstances outlined in your complaints will be taking place," Google wrote.

"During that investigation you may be asked to provide further information and you will of course be contacted once the review is complete. Thank you for your patience during that time."

57 comments

Surely they knew that they were going to make some sacrifices in publicity by making a controversial name?

Commenter

Azza

Date and time

September 13, 2012, 10:15AM

In the 21st century having sex in a name or a term should not be controversial but regardless it wasn't our name that was the issue. Google stated it was the donation button on our site that stopped our ads from being run.

Commenter

Fiona Patten

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

September 13, 2012, 10:35AM

Anymore contoversial than the Liberals calling themselves that, or Labor or Greens? Then again their complaint doesn't stem from the lack of publicity but rather the lack of an even playing field when it comes to paid advertising. Either we have equality or we don't. And if we don't then we're pretty screwed. It should not be for our media, social or otherwise to be deciding elections for us, that's what voting is for.

Commenter

Tired Camel

Date and time

September 13, 2012, 10:41AM

Is the word 'sex' really that controversial? A party calling itself Liberal when it's anything but seems more offensive.

Commenter

Michael

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

September 13, 2012, 10:46AM

Its probably not that the word "Sex" form part of your name, but rather "Sex Party" as a whole. Google "Sex Party" and see what results come up and there is the issue with your party's name

Commenter

JB88

Date and time

September 13, 2012, 10:49AM

"Sex" is hardly controversial. Maybe back in the 50s?

Commenter

wat

Date and time

September 13, 2012, 10:53AM

Fiona: Can I ask, is that different to the other parties? Did they have a similar button? And did they say they would restore the ads if the button was removed?

And you're right, it shouldn't be controversial. But in an ideal world, the issues your party stands for would be par for the course and there would be no need for your party to even exist. They very fact you need to campaign on your core issues (which I thoroughly support, BTW) demonstrates that isn't the case. Sadly, i've come to think the party name is more of a hindrance than a help from a Realpolitik perspective.

Commenter

DM

Date and time

September 13, 2012, 10:54AM

My sex is male, my mothers sex is female, some people might be called sexist, an actress could have sex appeal, two people in love sometimes have sex and in Australia there is a political group called the sex party.

I'm pretty sure The Age wont be moderating my use of the word sex, and I don't see why google or facebook would... Maybe they could accidentally think it was a joke political party, but surely once they've done enough research to say it was a tax donation thing they lose that argument.

Commenter

Scott

Date and time

September 13, 2012, 11:01AM

I looked at their policies, and it can be summarized in a single sentence, "Promote sex and drugs freely and oppose religion". No mention on big issues like transport, economy, foreign matters, employment...

Commenter

Amazing

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

September 13, 2012, 11:34AM

@ DM - did you read the article? Yes the other parties have that donation button and do not explain the tax exept status. It is clearly stated in the article.